Early-Stage Founders, Revenue Validation

“Fair hit. Should have been three lines: I charge, the main alternative is free and open source with 13.5k stars, is that survivable? The other nine paragraphs were me thinking out loud at you, which isn't the same as asking a question. Noted.”

“You should have a good idea the value to the customer (savings, new business, etc) and make this a no brainer good value. Focus on one year value and give them 4-6x “deal” based on what they get if they use as expected. If you could save them $1m, sell for 200k. The onboarding and adoption process will be hard since it’s new to them and you. If they could save more, don’t try to capture that value this year, save it for year two. Discounts only apply with a clear value (buy more save more) or ti”

“A 90% discount may prove that businesses will buy a 90% discount, not that your normal acquisition can work. Since existing customers retain, I would first identify the role, trigger, and channel shared by the best ones, then test that audience with the normal offer or a shorter pilot. What originally brought your current paying customers in?”

“I’d judge it by net revenue per qualified visitor in each region, not by the lower unit price or the size of the population. Run the regional price as a controlled test, include payment fees and refunds, and watch whether conversion rises enough to cover the discount. What was the Indian conversion rate before you changed the price?”

“You should position your product toward the audience that is most willing and able to pay for it. You can be sure that in developing countries, there are usually cheaper alternatives that are more accessible to them. Maybe the real problem is the positioning of your product and who you’re targeting. I think it’s going to be very difficult to build a sustainable business around selling a digital product to people who simply aren’t your ideal buyers because of their purchasing power.”

“Hi all, I’m running a SaaS mainly for B2B customers, and all of my current paying customers are businesses. I've had almost no churn in the last 7 months, so I'm pretty confident in the product itself. The main thing I'm struggling with right now is getting more customers. I’m thinking about trying Meta Ads with a 90% discount on the first year, which would bring the price down to $29. The $29 price would only be available through the ad link. Realistically, I probably won’t make any”

“I recently sold my first SaaS app - a small security tool for Shopify stores, for $5,500. The first conversation with the buyer happened in March. The money landed roughly four months later. This meant quite a lot to me because I first tried to build a Shopify app about eight years ago. I never finished it. The project became too difficult and I eventually stopped working on it. I started building during the summer of 2025 and launched it near the end of October. It handled things such as store”

“I'm building a pretty niche B2B SaaS and wrestling with pricing and market structure. The product screens physical locations for natural hazards using geospatial datasets. There are already serious enterprise companies in the broader climate/natural-risk market, and I'm not trying to out-enterprise them. The hypothesis I'm testing instead: can you take something that traditionally requires expensive software or consulting, and make a self-service version good enough for smaller teams”

“I wanted to test whether a product could make money without accounts, subscriptions, dashboards, or a long list of features. So I built ONE PAGE WAR . The concept is intentionally simple: There’s one page and projects compete for space on it. You submit your URL, choose how much you want to contribute (minimum $5), and your contribution determines how much of the page you get. Only the Top 25 projects are visible. If another project contributes more, the rankings and page shares change. The #1 p”

“We're doing the same with transparency upfront, and removing the gatekeeping of having to book a call with someone just to get a hint of the pricing structure. Too early to say if it's the right approach or not, but we have the mindset that if our own website can't easily explain and sell our product then we're doing something wrong. Ofcourse we still offer a live demo and call to those who want one, but for those who don't, we want the website to do it's job.”

“I would probably step back one level before choosing the pricing model. The key question is not really “flat fee, per customer or credits?” but: What incremental profit are you actually creating for the restaurant? If the customer would have visited anyway, a free meal is just margin given away. If you genuinely fill otherwise empty capacity, the economics can look very different because a restaurant may accept a lower contribution per table during an off-peak period if the alternative is an emp”

“So what are you thinking of doing next? Anything still blocking you from introducing a paid tier?”

“Build a web3 tool solo, mostly with ai since im not really a developer. its 3 apps actually, file transfer, deal rooms, and payments. everyone says free tier should be limited so people pay. i did opposite. free plan has full file size, full encryption, full text negotiation room, nothing locked there. what you pay for is speed stuff basically, short links, auto connect, and on top plan you get calls and screen share too. not sure if thats smart or if im just leaving money on table honestly. poi”

“Fair point on the transactional case, a supplier directory where each new company enriches the data everyone pulls from is a genuine network effect, not just switching cost. My distinction would be whether the shared layer actually exists. Most of the ERP-ish stuff I work on is single-tenant workflow: my customer's data helps my customer, and nobody else. No amount of adoption changes that. Land and expand matches what I see internally, though. Adoption usually spreads because one team's”

“You're three people on a client content calendar. Free will hold the databases. Plus is per member, not one workspace fee, so all three of you pay if you want the automations and charts. Don't seat the clients. Guest them on the one page they need, or they eat a member slot. If the calendar is all they should see, share that page only. Don't invite them into the whole workspace.”

“With a small agency, I’d worry more about getting the database structure right than the plan tier. Clients, content, tasks, and assignees can get messy fast; paying for Plus won’t fix a bad workflow.”

“We didn't derive it, we anchored it. Picked a round monthly number near the tools our buyers already paid for, then let the free tier do the real work of proving value before anyone hit a paywall. What moved conversion wasn't the price point, it was where we drew the free-to-paid line: too generous and nobody upgrades, too tight and they never reach the moment the product clicks. I'd put your energy on that boundary, not on getting the number exact at launch, because you'll chang”

“I'm building a small SaaS tool and I'm stuck on pricing. I don't want to charge too much and scare people away, but I also don't want to undercharge and struggle to cover costs later. For those who've launched before: Did you start with a low price and raise it later, or start high? Did you offer a free trial, or just a free tier? How did you figure out what people were actually willing to pay? Would love to hear what worked and what didn't. Trying to avoid common mistake”

“A 3-item daily loop is not a subscription yet. Charge a one-time early-access price until 30 people finish 7 days in a row. Then a monthly plan is fair. Credits make the lesson feel like a token. Do not ask for a card until that 7-day streak exists.”

“Without knowing the specifics of what the value is that's delivered, what units it's denominated in, and what the nature of the marginal value is, it's impossible to say. Based on feedback I got from someone, I cranked my plans 5x, but also increased the usage limits proportionally.”

“i’d test $19 first honestly — if the product solves a real career problem, $9 probably isn’t the thing making someone buy. you can always run a limited $9 offer later, but it’s harder to raise prices after people anchor on the cheaper plan.”

“I'm experimenting with pricing for a B2C career SaaS. Current structure: Free → enough to experience the product $9 → core workflow $29 → power-user features The category has established competitors around the $20–$40/month range. My reasoning behind $9 is reducing the friction of buying something you may only need temporarily. But I'm wondering if I'm creating the opposite problem: Does $9 make an AI SaaS look less valuable or less trustworthy? For people who've tested low-ticke”

“I’m considering a partner program for a B2B SaaS and trying to understand the economics before I build it out. I’m currently thinking 25% recurring for 24 months . For people who’ve actually run an affiliate program: what commission did you offer? lifetime vs 12/24 months? did affiliates care more about percentage or payout duration? did you recruit existing customers first? I’m trying to avoid overengineering the tracking side before I know whether the incentives are actually attractive.”

“Your instinct is right. If you cannot explain why someone returns next week, you have not earned a subscription screen yet. Charging for a habit before the habit exists is not a business model. It is a wish. The early access price is the honest move. It tests whether anyone values the product without pretending you have solved retention. Usage credits feel clever but train users to think of learning as a cost to manage, not a habit to build. That kills the exact behavior you need. Subscription r”

I amtrying to find out.thanks

“I’m testing a partner program for a restaurant SaaS priced at €12, €24, and €45 per month. At 30% recurring, that produces €3.60–€13.50 per active customer monthly. The intended partners are web designers and local-SEO consultants who already serve several restaurants. I’m concerned that the percentage looks attractive while the absolute payout may be too small for the work required. Would you prefer: 30% recurring; a larger first-payment bounty; or a hybrid of both? so I’m trying to understand”

“Have a list of parameters which matters like age of userbase, average spending capacity, country, subscription cost, etc. Then based on this, make a decision whether you think your average userbase will prefer monthly or yearly. Examples - if your userbase is 35 year old from United States and subscription cost is 5$/month, charge yearly because that's not a big deal for them. If your usebase is 12 year old from Bangladesh and subscription cost is 10$ per month, close your business because n”

“Is $250/month reasonable to run your product? And if it isn't, how long can anyone realistically keep paying that before it stops making sense? It's affordable, but I realized I've never set a point where I'd actually stop. If you've been here: did you set a limit up front, in months or in dollars or kept going till you get paying customers ? and if you kept going how much did you spend vs how much you earned back? Be honest. submitted by /u/Efficient-Simple480 [l”

“I'm trying to find the optimal pricing for my product and it feels like a rabbit hole. Flat, tiers, usage, per seat, or add-ons? For context: my product helps SaaS teams get insights into how their clients use their features Would it work if I did it in this order: aim for $/m from N customers -> $/N is the base pricing? How did you land your pricing model? By tools? Market research? submitted by /u/Ok_Blackberry_1588 [link] [comments]”

“for my b2c product, annual by far. monthly subscribers churn far more, which makes sense since someone choosing annual is clearly more committed.”

“Depends on the cost. I think if it's less than $4/mo, yearly alone is better but also depends if the product is something that users will actively use and won't be something that they question the value or feel like they would use a couple months to solve a need and then cancel. I personally avoid monthly subscriptions now. I have enough things I have to worry about between all the streaming services and expensive tools, but 30-50/year, a bit easier to just pay it.”

“In my opinion it all comes down to the product you are trying to sell. If you have something that your clients constantly consume I'm a big fan of PAYG systems or a yearly license with limits. If it's a tool that helps them a one time subscription also works.”

“Hello everyone, To All SaaS founders, do you think monthly subscription or yearly subscription is better, or give users the option to chose . submitted by /u/indie-musician7 [link] [comments]”

“I make iOS apps. Picking what goes in the title, subtitle, and keyword field came down to guessing. The tools that could tell me otherwise start at $79 a month and bundle rank tracking and campaign reporting I was never going to open. ASOGrade does the research pass and stops there. Popularity comes from Apple Search Ads, the same number advertisers bid against. It follows what people type rather than where an app sits on a chart. Difficulty comes from the apps ranking for that term in that stor”

“I would go for subscription based system because it would give me the motivation to keep going. I am very afraid of debt, so if my company was losing money I would probably shut it down too early.”

“If you already have an engaged niche audience, I’d lean toward a monthly membership instead of a one‑time fee. Recurring revenue gives you predictable cash flow. Given you’re offering three things in one (weekly class video, a course module, and a niche community), you can comfortably price higher than $59/mo. Try starting out at $79.99, it is still accessible but reflects the value you’re delivering. Also make sure you track your marketing spend per user. Your CAC should ideally stay under two”

“Your concern about one-time use is probably the key risk. I wouldn’t try to invent subscription features until you know what people genuinely come back for. I’d test it as a manual concierge before building more. Recruit 20 people who are already planning a haircut, give them the recommendation and follow up after the appointment. The useful signals would be whether they showed it to their barber, whether it changed their decision, whether they liked the result and whether they return before the”

“I’m building ClearSpace as a very small SaaS, with a Pro plan priced at $0.99/month. I originally thought the difficult decisions would be pricing, billing and deciding which features belonged in Pro. They weren’t. The harder problem was making the product feel trustworthy enough that someone would put real work into it. A task manager can have every feature on the checklist and still lose a user the first time a button fails, a task needs a refresh, or an invitation leads nowhere. ClearSpace is”

“I run a financial data website. My first subscriptions were some friends and family. Slowly word of mouth spread and acquaintances asked me for a free membership and didn't want to pay. So I began raising prices and those people who weren't originally willing to pay were willing to pay the original price and then some. Sometimes, you need to raise your prices to penalize people who are holding out on you. submitted by /u/geo-de [link] [comments]”

“The show flattens a real tradeoff. Subscription revenue is boring, but it tells you every single month whether the product still earns its keep, and that feedback loop is what actually makes the product good. Most of the big one time payouts happen to companies that already had that signal, not instead of it. If you optimize for the exit you end up building for an acquirer's roadmap instead of your users, and acquirers change their minds all the time. Pick the model your churn number can sur”

“OP, curious if you ended up testing? Trying to validate whether automated pricing experimentation is a good idea :)”

“Go with the subscription model because recurring revenue is more stable and gives you more control over the business. A big acquisition can be great, but it is hard to plan around. Focus on building something profitable first and treat a future buyout as a bonus.”

“The subscription is usually what earns you the “crap ton at once.” Buyers pay a multiple of durable revenue, growth, and strategic value; they rarely rescue a random money-losing company because it got attention. I'd rather build the $20/month machine and keep the option to sell it than make an acquisition the business model.”

“Yeah, I like your line of thinking.) I need to rethink the concept of scarcity in the product and figure out the best way to work with it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on my second post already!”

“The reasoning is good until you face execution (maintenance, deployment, ...) Then you go back to $20.”

“that's the move. one thing, don't bury it in a faq, put it right next to the price where the sticker shock happens. curious what it does to your demo rate, report back.”

“You are thinking too much like a dev than a user. Stop thinking "generation credits". The less user thinks about tokens and credit the better. So right now think 3 topics per day, and maybe like 9 exploration topics (other users) per day. Sell it as a feature, not saving credits. Having too much isn't good, you want user to come to your app as a habit. Not get burnt out the first day.”

“I'd suggest you let customers prove the value monthly, then offer annual after they’ve reached an activation milestone or completed two or three billing cycles. At that point you’re offering savings on something they already use, rather than asking them to bet on the next twelve months. If they’re still resisting annual after that, I’d look at product trust, cancellation terms and whether the discount is actually meaningful. Monthly = paying a premium for optionality.”

“A company I worked for was obsessed with moving clients to longer-term plans for the sake of this “stability”, and they succeeded within a couple of years to shift many clients to annual and semi-annual plans, and abolished the monthly plan completely. The result: regular churn hurt much more, 3 big clients churned and the company started to really struggle, half a year later, it closed down. Lesson in there: careful what you wish for!”

“Why would I pay yearly for something whose value I haven't proven yet and that I don't know if I want to stick with?”

“Been doing customer calls for something I'm building and ran into something I didn't expect. Almost nobody actually says "I want monthly billing." What they say instead is stuff like "I don't want this hanging over my head," or they'll try to haggle on literally 100 dollars like it's 100,000. Had one guy tell me straight up he'd rather pay more overall on monthly than commit annually, because he wasn't even sure he'd still need the tool in 6 mo”

“Unpopular opinion: I think one-off purchases are not that different from a subscription business, but of course you have to dig deeper to find the underlying meaning. In a practical sense, subscriptions give you a monthly income. Ultimately, it comes down to what the lifetime value is of your customers. If you have a $5/month product, lets say they eventually they pay for it for 20 months, then your lifetime value is $100. In a sense, it is not really any different than charging $100 upfront for”

Good strategy.

Reviews are good.

“The thing that stopped me overthinking pricing was only raising it for new signups first. Keep every existing account grandfathered, put the new number live for 2-3 weeks, and watch trial to paid conversion rate, not just signup count. If conversion holds anywhere near flat, you were underpriced and you can then migrate old accounts on renewal with 30 days notice. If it drops hard you learned it for free and nobody churned.”

“Price the thing you have to keep delivering, not the thing you already built. The weekly live class is the recurring cost, so that belongs in a membership, and the module can sit next to it as a one time $30 buy that unlocks the community. Launch the membership at $59 as a founding rate and grandfather those people forever, that way raising to $99 later is a new-cohort decision instead of a fight with your first fans. Then watch month two and month three retention before you touch pricing again,”

“Start with a 3-month trial or a one-time offer to hook your audience and test your ideas. Avoid launching with a cheap $30 permanent price or a $59 membership, because price-conscious buyers will resist paying $99 later. Set up monthly, quarterly, and annual subscription tiers early to lock in predictable income and attract people who value premium content.”

“It depends on if these can happen without any manual steps on your end. I'm mostly just being careful with your time if it's just a single small purchase vs setting up a subscription.”

“Pricing is a complicated subject that is more than a Reddit post, sorry. There are literally whole books on the subject. Broadly you should be charging the value that you bring, or what the client will accept. For a PPC campaign, landing page build and management, tracking numbers the full works you should be charging a good chunk. If I was pricing that in Aussie dollars it would be at least $2k per month plus 10% of media, and that is on the low end.”